Thorpe Students Pray Publicly At The Flagpole

They prayed for their fellow students, teachers and administrators. They asked for peace in Haiti and a safe return of servicemen trying to keep order there.

And they prayed to be an example to other students and a "shining light" in Jim Thorpe High School.

About 20 students and a few adults held hands and circled the flagpole in front of Jim Thorpe High School yesterday well before classes began for 20 minutes of prayer. Some prayed aloud. Other closed their eyes and prayed silently. They sang "Amazing Grace."

"I think this was a good way to show the younger people that it is not nerdy or strange to praise God, and there are other people who do it," said Allison Rodgers, who has been out of school a few years, but runs the youth group at St. John's Lutheran Church in Jim Thorpe.

Students were gathered at flagpoles across the country yesterday. The event was organized nationally by National Network of Youth Ministries. Locally, students organized the prayer.

Karen Cwiertniewicz, a high school senior and member of Christ Evangelical Free Church of Lehighton, recalled the first prayer at the flagpole in Jim Thorpe four years ago. Cwiertniewicz and a friend prayed at the pole.

"We all love the Lord and we want to worship him," she said.

David Feller, who belongs to the St. John's Lutheran Church youth group, said there should be prayer at the pole more often.

"It was really uplifting," Feller said. "We should do this as much as we can."

The students did not approach the subject of prayer in school. But Gene Kunkel, who represented United Church of Christ in Jim Thorpe, said many of the students would like to see prayer in school.